Microsoft Dynamics AX General Manager, Dan Brown, who spoke last week at the AXUG Summit in St. Louis said that Microsoft expects the next major release of Microsoft Dynamics AX, code named AX ‘7′, in approximately a year. “I don’t want to get any more specific than that just to give myself some breathing room,” he told the audience. “But that’s when the browser-based client is going to be delivered.”
AX ‘7′ will be primarily a technology release, according to Brown, with two primary focus
areas:
– The first goal is the updated user experience that is browser based and that supports mobile clients across many device platforms. The new browser based interface will replace the Windows client. It will not only expose standard AX client features, but it will also replace the AX Enterprise Portal, Brown said. Typical portal capabilities like employee self-service will be rolled into the new browser interface.
– The second goal is to support AX in production on Azure to be managed by partners.
Brown acknowledged that the functional updates for AX that continue to roll out are both a competitive necessity and a concern for the existing user base in terms of staying current with the product.
“There’s a time to value that we get from getting features out into the market more quickly and becoming more competitive,” he said. “So we’re trying to balance being more competitive and gaining market share, which I think benefits us all, with the impact on [AX users] when you apply code into your environment.”
